We all know that babies are beautiful. But sometimes you’d like a little something special, a piece of art to decorate your home. Why not combine the two by creating a newborn composite photo and have a beautiful art piece that is special to you because you absolutely adore the subject!

Here is where the magic of Photoshop comes in. I’ve taken two separate images here, one of a beautiful newborn baby girl and the other of a floral nest, and then I blended them into one image.

The first thing I had to do was select and extract the baby out of the first picture and then place her in the second image. Once placed in the second image, I slowly paint away any of the original image that I don’t want to be part of the final photograph. This can be painstaking and is often done while zooming into the image at over 400%.

Now if you are a painter, or have ever taken a high school art class, the next part will make total sense to you. You can’t just put the baby in the new picture and call it a day. She will be the completely wrong color for the scene, and she will look like she is floating. So, you have to approach her placement as a painter would.

Adding shadows underneath the baby as well as on top of the entire image are extremely important to make the final photograph look as though it was created in the camera and not in Photoshop. I also had to blend the color of the lighting of the second photograph over the baby so that she blends seamlessly into the image.

The end result is a beautiful photograph of a newborn that has been elevated to a piece of art.

This process is exactly that, a process. It can take many hours depending upon the complexity of the scene and the subject that you are blending together.

Below are several examples of composites that I did for families who wanted their newborn photographs to be truly unique and beautiful. To see them full sized, just click on the image that interests you.